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Thursday, December 4, 2014

Russian Orthodox Church to use secular schools for Sunday classes

The Russian Orthodox Church has obtained permission to use rooms at
Moscow’s secular secondary schools free of charge for Sunday classes.
Human rights activists have two questions to ask: Doesn’t this run
counter to the principle of secular education? and Won’t the rights of
other religions be infringed?

If the authorities exert no pressures on
school administrations, and if other religions and confessions enjoy the
same opportunities, there is nothing to be afraid of, analysts believe.

Orthodox Sunday schools will be able to use rooms at Moscow’s
secondary educational institutions on Sundays, the head of the Public
Council at the city department of education, Nina Minko, said on the
Moscow-24 round-the-clock news channel.

According to the official, the Catechesis Department of the Moscow
Diocese turned to the department of education with a request for
permission to use rooms at ordinary schools during vacant hours, because
Russian Orthodox Church Sunday schools are in dire need for rooms where
to hold classes.

“We have considered the issue together with the education law center
and ruled that that a final decision should depend on the management
board of each school. In case of approval the religious education
department and the school will conclude a lease contract on
disinterested terms,” Minko said.

The request addressed to the Moscow authorities came from the head of
the religious education and catechism department of the Moscow City
Diocese, hieromonch Onisim (Bamblevsky). He told the daily Kommersant
that at the moment there were nearly 300 Sunday schools and groups in
the Moscow diocese, but “many of them need better or new facilities.”

The news has drawn comments from some other traditional religions.

“I believe that this issue must be approached on the basis of
equality, deputy head of the Council of Russia’s Muftis, Rushan
Abbyasov, told Kommersant. “We have similar problems. As you may know,
mosques in Moscow are few, so communities have to rent rooms for Sunday
schools. All other traditional religious organizations should be allowed
to use the facilities of ordinary secondary schools then.”

The president of the Congress of Jewish Religious Associations and
Organizations in Russia, Rabbi Zinovy Kogan, has declared an intention
to file a similar request.

“That’s a violation of the law, because our education is secular,”
says the head of the human rights organization Agora, Pavel Chikov.
“Even though formally a permission is to be issued by the school’s
management, we all understand the degree of schools’ dependence on the
department of education.”

He believes that the question of religious
education “is extremely sensitive in Russian society.” “Such preferences
may be requested by the Muslims, Judaists, Buddhists, Adventists,
Krishnaites, Jehovah’s Witnesses and everybody else. What shall we have
at our schools in the end?

Leasing school rooms does not run counter to the principle of secular
education enshrined in the Constitution, if the authorities put no
pressures on school management, political scientist Alexey Makarkin told
TASS. “But attempts to dictate an informal obligation would be an
obvious violation of the Constitution. That’s where the border line
lies.”

Makarkin also foresees a certain risk “quasi-religious associations,
which in some countries are prohibited as sects, may be queuing up for
the same right.”

“If the principle of voluntariness is observed, and if other
religions enjoy the same rights, and if this privilege is granted only
to traditional ones, recognized by the state, no negative consequences
will ensue,” Makarkin said.